


Farewell

by ObfuscatedEvanesce



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 10:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12079332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObfuscatedEvanesce/pseuds/ObfuscatedEvanesce
Summary: The gang find themselves stowing away in Theo’s ride, waiting for the perfect opportunity to surprise him.





	Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> Ben is the King from Descendants 2. Not relevant to the story at all, but I'm thinking his family is part of a class of supernaturals that have laws against meddling in "mortal" affairs. Basically, at their weakest, this class of supernaturals are as strong as the Beast. Dragons and shit would be in this class of supernaturals. Anyway, that's an idea for another time.

The pads of his hands and fingers adjust and readjust on the steering wheel. He can feel his blood vessels throb against the slick leather. His heart sinks to his feet with every unpassed moment. His face is hard stone illuminated by the rising sun. This is it. He left it undecided until the bittersweet end, but somehow, he already knew it would come to this. It’s fair. He deserves this. Gracefully, quietly, he’ll go. Off to someplace where the good he’ll do won’t be tainted by the sound of his name.

His throat stings.  

He shifts into drive.

* * *

 

“Smell this,” Corey smirks, tossing Liam a blanket.

He mulls over the lumberjack pattern, face scrunched in perplexion. Brings the wool up to his nose and takes a wary sniff.

“This smells like nothing.”

“Exactly!” Mason interjects, his smile and his chest puffed with pride, “It was surprisingly difficult to find, but we finally found something that can neutralize scent.”

“If you’re trying to tell me something, I think there’s more straightforward way of saying it.”

Corey chuckles, “Watch.”

With a flourish, he wraps himself up, simultaneously turning it and himself invisible. Out of habit, he makes “what do you think” gesture, but immediately realizes no one can see him. As if they’re psychically linked, Mason also makes the same gesture, to which Liam’s confusion compounds.

“Where’s Corey?” Mason challenges.

“Right there, I can still smell him,” he points in Corey’s general direction.

“Nope.” 

Liam jumps and launches a punch and Corey screams and flinches, but Liam catches himself before he rockets Corey into the constellations.

“Holy shit!”

“Dude!”

“It worked. It worked!”

“Alright, it worked. What’s the point?”

“Think about it. Complete undetectability. Which means...”

Truly, Mason tries to telepathically spoon feed Liam the obvious answer. Mason is sharp, quick to notice things. This whole year, he watched, with baited breath, the slow dance his best friend partook. Wolf and snake. Never has he ever seen Liam step carefully, but with him, it was always one sure foot in front of the other.  Truthfully, Mason hoped by some freak, unfortunate accident, that this partner wouldn’t make it out alive. Their lives wouldn’t necessarily be easier, but it’d certainly be much much simpler. Fortune doesn’t favor fools, and he was a fool for thinking that weasel wouldn’t find a way.

But here they are. Connected in a way two people should never be. Feeding the worst in each other, yet coming out better for it.

“We can surprise Theo.”

* * *

 

He faded as soon as they were done. They would pat themselves on the back and lick their wounds and find friendship and reconciliation stronger in the aftermath. But they wouldn’t find him. He realized early on that the blood on his hands at long since dried. Nothing in existence could wash it away. He has made peace with that.

Blurred bushes and soaring pines. Winding forest road and smudged clouds in the sky-sea. The weight of loneliness cripples. It all becomes too much, as if everything is changing all at once. Everything is changing and he’s still the same. It’s too much and it’s too heavy and he wants to change but everything’s the same and he’s changed.

He pulls over.

He wraps his arms around the steering wheel. Lets the hot tears roll down his cheek.

“Fuck.”

It’s improper. Tiny. Constricted and stemmed at the cracks. There’s an ocean behind that wall, and he refuses to let it flow.

Blurred bushes and soaring pines. Winding forest road. Fellow travelers pass him by. It’s all the company he needs, but not all the company he has.

The trio exchange awestruck glances from the trunk space. Bottled energy. Silent exclamations, and ecstatic tugs. Liam, however, seethes. His brows knit into intangleable knots. His jowls set into a hard scowl.

Suddenly, there’s music. The radio’s being flipped. Popular songs and show hosts occupy the silence. It’s not something anybody bothered to care about, but the idea of him listening to music seems so foreign. And then he’s singing and he’s good and Liam wants to enjoy it but he can’t. The idea of it all being an illusion, a ploy, a plot, a trick, is much too painful. But he’ singing and he’s good and the hardness of his features softens ever slightly. And he enjoys it.

-

They stop at a TA gas station. He steps inside to grab a bite before really hitting the road. Meanwhile…

“He has to know. Guys, he knows and he’s taking us hostage,” Corey freaks.

“That doesn’t make any sense. We can just walk away right now. Call the whole thing off.”

“Yeah, we already bought the stupid thing. We could just leave it in his truck and go.”

 “No,” Liam says finally, “He thinks he’s alone; his guard is down. We should see if he’s up to something.”

“He’s actually going to kill us if he catches us spying on him.” Mason’s not an idiot. Liam’s strong, but he’s also the only thing standing between them and certain death. And certain death has a lot more battle experience.

“Let’s hope Mr. Blankie holds out then.”

* * *

 

The ride is filled with uncomfortable silence. It becomes a slow fascination with how empty his life is. It becomes utterly apparent how right everyone was. He has no friends. Not even the radio speaks to console him. The low purr of the truck engine is livelier than the human inside.

The second stop is in Liam’s neighborhood, behind a Thai food restaurant. He returns with a duffel bag and tosses it in the back seat. It’s agonizing not knowing what’s inside, but soon, he’s parked by a hotel, nice looking, and struts up to the entrance.

For a split second, Liam swears he hears his heartbeat falter.

“Holy shit,” Mason gasps, rummaging through the bag. His eyes dart and his mouth hangs agape.

“There has to be… at least twenty grands here.”

“What does he need with twenty thousand dollars?”

The answer comes instantly. Liam wants to be angry, but what is there to be angry of? He expected everyone else to. They have plans - lives and dreams they want to pursue. It’s all part of growing up. But Liam never thought that he of all people… perhaps it’s true. All he wanted was a place in Scott’s pack. With that gone, there’s nothing left for him in Beacon Hills.

“He’s leaving.”

He’s glad his friends can’t hear how his heart panics. How the fear wells up and topples him over. But they’re his friends and they have a natural magic that leaves him open and vulnerable. Intuition.

“Liam -  ”

“The coward couldn’t even say goodbye.”

* * *

 

He is no stranger to this. Rolling the thought in his head should make his skin crawl. He has bared his body before; laying exposed for the experiment is nothing new to him. In fact, it’s enticingly familiar. Something safe and something sane. A constant in inconstancy.

He’s no stranger to Ben. His head rolls back and they crawl in each other’s skin. He bares his body, lies exposed as Ben’s experienced tongue examines him. It’s enticingly familiar. Safe. Constant.

“I’ve a feeling this will be the last I see of you.”

He says nothing. But Ben hovers over him, makes him feel vulnerable.

“Difficult to read as ever. Not impossible though,” their noses nudge and lips connect.

He reaches up, threads his fingers his Ben’s hair. He wants proximity. Closeness that might imprint this fleeting moment into him eternally. But Ben pushes him deeper into the mattress. Chuckles.

“S’pose we’ll make this one last, yeah?”

He nods. Completely complicit.

Liam hears them in the parking lot and he’s absolutely fuming. His hands shake as he clutches a bundle of bills in his claws. Everything makes awful sense. The tremble, the twitch in his jaw is so slight one might mistake it for calm. Except, the rage in his eyes burns bright.

When he talks, it’s demonic.

“Go home.”

And home, his friends go.

He crawls into the driver’s seat when it’s all done, unaffected by the rigid werewolf in the passenger’s. He doesn’t bother to fix his hair, only turns to put the money in with the rest of it.  

No eye contact.

He can’t afford to feel ashamed.

He can afford a little indignation.

“What the hell are you doing here?” It sounds more tired than angry.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

_I deserve this, isn’t that right?_

_I screamed all the way down and I’m still screaming._

“My life isn’t any of your business.”

“Were you really going to just leave without saying goodbye?”

_Didn’t think I had anyone to say goodbye to._

“That was the plan.”

“Well. Now your plan is ruined. Bye Theo.”

He doesn’t stop him from leaving in a rush. No offer to drive him home. Just himself and the silence and a framed photo, one someone must have snuck of them smiling wide, deep in conversation.


End file.
